


Curled Up

by jaimistoryteller



Series: 2018 February Flash Fics [2]
Category: GoldenEye (1995), James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Mild Angst, Past Character Death, Self-Reflection, Sick Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 09:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13761228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaimistoryteller/pseuds/jaimistoryteller
Summary: James is worried about Q, he’s not recovering as fast as he did the last time, and he’s concerned the mage is ill.





	Curled Up

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** Someone gets unexpectedly cuddly when they are exhausted/sick/injured. One person remarks upon it, and another says it’s normal as they take care of the first person
> 
> This is mostly parallel to the last story, but from James' POV

James POV

He doesn’t understand why Q isn’t getting better. He recovered quicker after remaking Alec’s body. Partly he wonders if the fact his took longer and things had gone wrong that caused whatever is currently causing the mage to feel so poorly. It’s also possible that the weakness following opened Q up to getting sick.

Actually, that’s probably exactly what happened.

Right then, so what if their mage needs is a bit of down time and care? Not just a single day but a few of them? They can do that. Between Alec and him, they can provide everything Q needs.

Now he needs to talk to his long time partner about it.

That decided, he goes hunting for his fellow ex-spy. They can make a plan of action for how to deal with Q.

He finds Alec in the greenhouse. Fingers buried deep in the soil as he takes his time weeding and planting some of the seedlings that Q provided after their green eyed companion mentioned wanting them.

“I think Q needs to take at least a day off from doing everything,” he remarks as he watches the way Alec slowly straightens, stretching a bit as meets his eyes.

“Probably a good idea,” his long time friend agrees, lips twitching in the hints of a smile.

“How do we convince him of that? If he's anything like past Q, and from what we’ve seen as ghosts hanging about he is, then it’s not going to be that simple.” He muses, running a hand over the back of his neck.

Wiping his hands off, Alec replies, “Lets start tonight with dinner and relaxing evening cuddling. I’ve gotten the impression he’s a bit on the touch starved side.”

He nods in agreement. “Maybe get him to take a relaxing bath?”

Grinning at him, his best friend comments, “Good idea. I’ll cook, you get the bathing room ready.”

Chuckling, “Right.”

The two of them head back to the living area after putting everything is away. Q likes everything to the kept the same, so they do their best to do so for him.  

“His favorites or comfort food?” Alec queries as they stop in the kitchen side by side.

“Soup, maybe fresh bread,” he answers as he eyes the supplies they have.

They should try getting this kitchen stocked a bit better. Right now they don’t have a lot of basics, but only because they’ve been providing Q with requests for things they haven’t been able to track down within the ruins of London.

It’s haunting going through the old city hidden beneath the compound. Most of the buildings and locations around the city are destroyed. They’re nothing but decaying bricks, rotting wood, and crumbling cement.

When they were still ghosts they had tracked down their own flat. Within it they found the cats and their first Q together in bed, their bodies covered in a thin layer of dust like material that seems to have preserved them. A few days after Alec’s body was formed, they had returned to their Q, planning to lay him to rest.

They were surprised when the mage followed them, softly offering, “If you wait a time, I can make a crypt for him.”

At the time, he considered hugging the dark haired man, but he was still a ghost, so it didn’t happen. Instead the three of them returned to the living quarters in compound.

Three days later they watched in fascination as Q raised a new crypt just outside the compound near the others but not right next to it. It’s the first time they’ve actually paid attention to those crypts. All of them are tall and domed. The walls appearing like smooth stones with the domes appearing to have a stained glass like pattern.

He recognizes the words, the Irish used to cast the spell, though the pronunciation is definitely not what he remembers. The new crypt is beautiful when compared to the others, instead of the plain gray stone, it’s a marbled blue and green. The stained glass reminds him of cats and computers.

Frowning, he recalls exactly how pale and drained the mage appeared after, going and taking a nap while they relocated their hacker to the inside of the crypt. Discovering that there are places for the pets, along with two more bodies.

“What if the day he made the crypt is when he first started getting sick? Remember how tired he was afterwards?” He queries, glancing at his long time friend.

Slowly Alec inclines his head, green eyes narrowing, and brow furrowing.

“Think he caught something then, and the exhaustion from making this body pushed him over the edge?” He asks, disliking the worried note he can hear in his voice.

“It’s possible, no reason to fret about it, it’s better just to take care of him.” His best friend replies, lifting his left shoulder in a partial shrug.

Pivoting, he heads to the large bathing area. It’s mostly run by a generator, however there is also a corn burner that can be used to get the tub heated rather than the shower. It takes a little bit of time to get it up to a warm temperature.

He gets the water heating. Then he turns his attention to laying out a fluffy towel and soft floor matt. That is followed by grabbing the soaps and conditioner that Q seems to prefer, he’s got a small collection of different scents after all. For a moment he debates between the overhead light and the candles. In the end, he goes with the candles because they are a softer light and give off a small amount of further warmth.

Once he’s done, he goes to check on where Alec is in the making of soup.  

Unsurprisingly, his long time love has soup going but is also making sandwiches and cutting up fruit and veggies to add to the menu. There is water heating for tea as well.

“Need a hand?” he queries, leaning against the wall and enjoying the domestic moment.

There have been a lot of quiet domestic moments he’s enjoyed since his ghost woke up. Apparently being dead gave him an altered perspective. The calm times that just to drive him up a wall aren’t as dull now.

“I’ve got it,” Alec answers with a quick smile to him. “Why don’t you go get our mage?”

He nods, straightening up and heading to the workshop.

Sure enough he finds Q puttering away with some. There isn’t anything magical going on as far as he can tell.

“Q,” he murmurs, lightly touching the mage’s lower back. “Alec’s nearly done with dinner.”

Turning his head slightly towards him, the young man replies, “All right.”

He steps back, watching as Q carefully puts everything away. He’s moderately certain that the mage is a bit OCD. Each item has to be exactly right.  The condition of each item is carefully maintained to keep them from breaking.

Eventually Q motions towards the door, swaying in place, and smiling tiredly.

He stays close to the mage’s side as they walk through the compound from the workroom to the kitchen almost at the other end of it. When they reach the dining and kitchen area, he guides the younger man to an armchair and shifting the side table closer so that the food can be put on it.

Once Q is settled, he shifts the other two chairs closer while Alec makes up their plates and carries them in the area.

“One of these days we should put together a proper dining table,” he mutters absently.

Neither of his partners seem to hear him. That’s all right, he can look through the ruins of the city and see if he can find one later. The armchairs are nice, but being able to eat at a proper table would make it easier to chat and give them a bit more space.

As they settle in for dinner, he remarks, “We’ve decided you need to take a day off.”

Alec nods in agreement, watching the dark haired man as he hands over the plates with bowls in the middle and carefully piled up around it is the sandwiches, fruit and vegetables.

Q’s eyes dart between them, brow furrowing as he asks, “Why?”

“You’re still exhausted,” his long time best friend answers before he has a chance to, “even though it’s been a few days, and you recovered faster after giving me this body.”

Before the mage can reply, he pipes up with, “Dinner, a nice soak in the tub, and a relaxing even.” He grins as he continues, “Then no working on projects tomorrow.”

Q blinks at him, shrugging as he picks up a piece of carrot.

He bites back a chuckle at the almost stuttering way Alec asks their mage if he wants a massage. He has to keep biting back the chuckle at Q’s hesitant agreement.

One escapes him as he declares, “Don’t worry, it’ll be enjoyable. Maybe you’ll sleep more than four hours afterwards.”

The younger man blinks slowly, as if processing the words.

He’d wager that Q’s never had someone give him a massage. Alec mentioned the fact he thinks the mage is touch starved earlier. That is definitely a possibility. Particularly as Q doesn’t seem to know how to handle casual contact. It’s another thing that reminds him of their long dead boffin.

“This is tasty,” the mage mumbles, shrugging and picking up one of the sandwiches to chew on.

He shares a smile with Alec.

The rest of dinner goes quietly.

After dinner, he cleans up while Alec herds Q towards the bathing room.

By the time he joins them, Q’s soaking, eyes closed, breathing a bit shallowly, almost asleep.

Alec’s perched on the edge of the tub in his pants, carefully rubbing the mage’s shoulders.

When he slips in the room, his long time partner glances in his direction with a small smile, not saying anything.

“Can we skip the actual massage and go straight to cuddling?” Q mumbles without opening his eyes. “I just want to sleep, curl up with someone who doesn’t think I am a freak, and maybe stop wondering why touch is so bloody important. I went years without regular contact with people. Why do I just want to cuddle now?”

The last line is nearly keened.

He steps closer to the tub, closing the door so the heat stays in the room since he knows the dark haired man gets cold so very easily.

“It’s alright to just want to cuddle,” he states, trying for reassuring, but not sure it’s working. “There have been plenty of times after injuries, or that one time I got the flu, that cuddling is the best thing. It’s nice having someone there to be supportive.”

Snickering, Alec mutters, “James is horrid when sick, I’ve seen nicer torture chambers.”

Rolling his eyes, he retorts, “Fuck off.”

The snicker becomes a full laugh as his green eyed love replies, “Later. Q and cuddling first.”

Opening his eyes, the mage twists around a bit so he can glance between them. “I, um, you two go enjoy yourselves.”

“Silly Q, we enjoy taking care of you, you want some cuddles and we are all for providing them.” He declares, meeting startled gray eyes.

There’s something unreadable in the mage’s eyes as they dart between them again.

It’s an expression he remembers boffin Q doing every time they did something he needed time to process. Mostly because their boffin was demi and didn’t always understand how serious their teasing and flirting was.

When the mage starts shivering, Alec suggests, “Come, out you get.”

He’s not certain if it’s because of the era they now live in, or because they lived with Q as ghosts for months, but the dark haired genius doesn’t mind being naked around them.

He grabs the towel, wrapping it around the mage’s slender frame, gently drying him off before grabbing the thick robe they left near the corn burner to heat.

Q practically purrs when the robe is closed around him.

Alec takes the towel, drying off a bit and hanging it up to dry.

A few minutes later, the three of them are curled up in the middle of the almost too small bed, with Q in the middle.

Alec is softly rubbing the mage’s knuckles, lips pressed against a temple. His hand is resting on the curve of the smaller man’s hip. Q seems to be drowsing.

“Thank you for staying with me,” it’s mumbled, barely recognizable.

He catches the startled look in his partner’s green eyes as they both answer, “Always Q.”


End file.
